Tovan Middlebury
Human male, born LY 860, in Ship. General of the Army. Tovan (pronounced tōv·ăn) was among the settlers of Near Port in 897, at the age of 37. He had spent most of his life up until that point working as an independent transporter, delivering both people and mail between villages (his work mainly took him from his home village to either Monab or First Village). He happened to be in Monab in Su'gin of 890, toward the end of the annual Pilgrimage. There he met Bishop Dalin of First Village, who said he had some personal business to attend to, which might last a few days beyond the time his delegation would be returning home. And so, Dalin asked him if he'd mind sticking around awhile, so that he might hire Tovan to transport him back to First Village, when he was ready. Tovan agreed, and during the trip, he talked a bit with Dalin about his business in Monab. All Dalin revealed at the time was that he and a colleague had been discussing the possibility of starting a new village in northern Near Land, though he had no idea if or when such a thing would come to pass. However, Tovan found the idea interesting, and exchanged addresses with Dalin so that they could keep in touch. He wanted Dalin to let him know if plans for starting the new village ever became more definite, as he might be interested in joining the settlers. After Near Port was indeed founded, seven years later, Tovan was among a select group of settlers who learned early on a greater degree of the details of The Plan than the majority did, at first. For the time being, he continued working as a transporter, mostly between Near Port and Kimrin, though once or twice he traveled as far as Triscot. He apparently had some part in helping implement the Plan, prior to the start of the war, though specifics of this are not known. However, when an army was raised in Near Port in 901, Tovan became a major, and as such was the leader of the army of that village, serving under the command of General Poss; it is believed the two had had some contact with each other in the years between the founding of Near Port and the formation of the armies of the Northern Alliance. It's also quite possible that during that time, Tovan became acquainted with Alec, who became major of the Kimrin army. Certainly it is known that in the course of the war, the two majors became good friends (though clearly not as close as Alec was with his friend Stavros, who served as a captain under his command). After the war, Tovan was promoted to the newly established rank of colonel, and remained as commander of the Near Port army (which was redesignated a regiment, as "Army" came to refer to all the collective armies of the newly established Second Order). Shortly thereafter, Poss was promoted to marshal of the military, and Tovan was promoted to general of the Army. He was succeeded as colonel of the Near Port regiment by Charles. When the surname law was passed in 904, Tovan chose the name Middlebury, referring to the fact that Near Port was the "middle village" of the Northern Alliance. During the Chaos War of 912, Tovan at first fought against Poss Primus (his former commanding officer), though he eventually was persuaded to join Primus against the forces of King Demos Royal and The Cabal. Nevertheless, he remains loyal to the Second Order, and retains his position as general. Category:People